Isle Royale Travelog

Journal - Day 1

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Monday, August 13, 2001

We left the Sault around 10:30am and headed up on M-28. We stopped in Newberry at Pickleman's gas station to get some beverages and jerky to snack on. We continued on to Munising where we stopped at the Dogpatch for lunch -- turkey sandwiches and lemonade. We also picked up a couple Dogpatch t-shirts in their gift shop. Hitting the road again, we stopped at one of the roadside pull-offs just before Au Train to dip our feet in Lake Superior (which was cold as usual!) When we reached Marquette, we stopped by at Gander Mountain (new!!) to buy me some convertible pants and also some Coleman fuel for the Dragonfly camp-stove we borrowed from one of our friends. We also hit the IGA for our last minute grocery needs: coffee, cocoa, ziplock bags, and Tang.
There were numerous sections of 28 and 41 which were undergoing construction and had only one lane open, but there was only one time when we had to wait more than 5 minutes for our turn to go. When we reached Houghton/Hancock, we made a quick stop at the Republic Bank ATM (not having sighted a single National City of credit union ATM we could access) to get some cash for the trip. We also stopped for gas, dropped off some bills that needed to be sent (before we dropped out of modern society for a few days) and we finally stopped at another IGA to pick up some Dramamine for the boat ride over to the island.
The drive from Calumet to Copper Harbor was AMAZING! Curvy, curvy, curvy, with so many trees and hills. I would drive all the way up to Copper Harbor for that 20 mile stretch alone!
When we got to Copper Harbor, we passed by the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge -- it's beautiful and we looked forward to staying there.

The exterior of King Copper Motel

We got to the King Copper Motel and there was a note on the window of the office for us, telling us our key was on the dresser of our room (#30). We knew we were in a different place when it was obvious that they trusted us (and everyone else) to take the proper room.

We went and dropped off our stuff, and found we had a nice sized room with sliding glass doors that looked out over Copper Harbor. Slipping outside, we found lots of Canadian geese sunning themselves, and two lawnchairs right by our door, should we want to enjoy the view from out there.

Inside the King Copper Motel

A yellow boat in Copper Harbor

One of the neatest sights we saw out our back door was a cute little yellow boat docked at the place next to the motel. We doubted it was ever taken over to Isle Royale on its own -- it would be much too small to deal with the waves that can quickly blow up on the big lake.

We then went and checked out the Isle Royale Queen's dock, which was maybe 200 yds from the back door of our motel room!

From the back door of our room, the dock was only 200 yards away!

Afterwards, we went in search of dinner. We ate at the Mariner North, which is right on the main road that runs east-west through town. I had the whitefish and wild rice, while Mark had the steak and whitefish with wild rice. The salad bar was great, as were the raspberry margaritas! After dinner, we walked up the road to a convenience store to get something to drink later that evening.

Kayakers at sunset on Copper Harbor

When we got back to the room, we took another peek outside and were treated with a very peaceful sight: five kayakers returning from an evening cruise around the harbor. The sky was filled with beautiful shades of pinks, purples and blues, and we could just imagine how calming it must have been to be out on the water in the middle of all that color.

Back inside the room, we started getting our packs together. The room had cable TV and we watched "The Newton Boys" while we got our gear together. We were in bed by 10:30pm, with the alarm set for 6am the next day.